Through the Eyes of a Child
by luckless-is-me
Summary: Preschools are places of stink-bomb diapers, barbwire lined fences, and crow nosed old ladies just waiting to stuff you full of nasty red medicine and force you into an early naptime. Or so he was told anyway. Who knew big brothers could be wrong?


**This is a rescued piece of a story I abandoned. It was originally going to be much longer and posted on Axel/Zexion day last year, but I more or less just stopped writing it. It's well over a year old now, but I figured I'd post it anyway. Maybe I'll work on it again someday~ **

**Rated: K - for the general lack of anything to warrant a higher rating. It's pretty tame~ **

******Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney. All characters mentioned in this work belong to their respective creators. I do, however, own the plot and would appreciate not getting robbed. It's not on my to-do list at the moment— check back next month. **

******Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

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"I don't wanna go."

"Well, that's too bad, sweetie. All the big boys go to school," Ariel smiled, ruffling her youngest son's choppy red hair and strapping his backpack over his shoulders. He pouted. And if she were being honest with herself, she'd admit that it really was quite adorable, the way his bottom lip poked out and quivered.

"Reno's a big boy and _he's _not going." The bottom lip pushed out just a bit more, twiggy little arms crossing in front of his brand new little button-up.

"Reno is going, but his school doesn't start until tomorrow. Now, come on, Axel. You're going to be late, and don't you want to go to school and make new friends?" She grabbed his arm and tugged him along, pulling him out of their family's modest little house and buckling him into the backseat of her car. He did not look happy.

And he wasn't. Oh, he wasn't happy at all. He didn't want to go to school. He wanted to stay home with his mommy and— well, he didn't know, but he didn't want to leave. He'd been good. Really, really, _really_ good. He was always good— most of the time anyway. So, why did he have to go to school? Reno said that school was like jail. The babies all had stink-bomb diapers, barbwire lined the fences, and there was a lady with a crow nose just waiting at the door to stuff him full of nasty red medicine and force him into an early naptime. And he didn't want that. No. He didn't want that at _all_. Mommy said that Reno was lying, but Reno was still in school and Mommy was _old_. Reno obviously knew more than she did.

"Mommy, I don't feel good," Axel sniffled, putting in a little cough for good measure. Ariel just looked at him through the rearview mirror, sea-foam eye narrowing for just a moment before she went back to looking at the road. Axel huffed, "You don't love me anymore." He crossed his arms and looked away, emerald eyes watching the window. Ariel laughed from the front seat and just let it go, slowly turning into the pre-school parking lot.

And it was nothing like Reno said it was. Oh, no. It wasn't a jail at all. Curious, he spun in his seat, sitting up on his knees and sticking his fingers to the window, running them along the glass. There were lots of kids here. Like the ones on the television. He didn't get to see other kids very often. Reno had friends that came over sometimes, but they were all big, big kids and they didn't play with him much. Mommy said it was because they didn't want to accidentally hurt him, but… Axel didn't think they liked him very much. But there were lots of kids here. Lots of kids his age and his size and— maybe they would play with him? And the building was big and pretty and there were footprints and fingerprints and— why hadn't Mommy brought him here sooner?

"Do you want to go inside?" He nodded, fumbling with his seatbelt and waiting for his mommy to open his door. As soon as she did, she bent down to his level and smiled, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll be back to pick you up at two o'clock, okay? Be good and I'll let you have two desserts later."

Emerald eyes lit up at that. "And Reno doesn't get any?"

She laughed, pulling him from the car and patting him forward on his back, "Oh, maybe just one." Axel scrunched up his nose and shrugged. Reno shouldn't get any; Mommy should know that by now.

A bell inside rang and Axel let his mommy kiss him one more time before he ran off, falling in with the other kids as they disappeared into the building. The inside was just as nice as the outside. There were toys everywhere and lots and lots of colors. It was like Christmas, only better because there were other kids for him to play with now. And wouldn't one of them be his friend?

All the other children already seemed to have friends though. They were already playing together and talking and— Mommy didn't tell him that he was going to be all alone. He saw a little blond boy all by himself, but before he could get to him there was a brunet tugging on his hand. And the little redheaded girl in the corner had lots of friend already, but he didn't have anybody.

He blinked, little white sneakers scraping the carpet, his lower lip quivering. He didn't like to be alone. At home, he always had his mommy. She couldn't always play with him because of that work thing she did, but she was always there. He was good about playing when he was by himself. He never caused a fuss or anything. But he didn't know what he was supposed to do with so many other kids around. He wanted to play with one of them, not all by himself.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" He shook his head, cropped red hair bobbing from side to side as he stared at the brown boots of the woman bending down in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't have anyone to play with…," Axel sniffled.

She cooed at him, lifting his chin and smiling at him with pretty white teeth and long, chocolate brown hair. "Then, let's find you someone to play with." She looked around for a moment, and then her smile got a little wider as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the edge of the class. "Why don't you ask him to play with you?" The woman pointed at a little boy with strangely colored hair sitting all by himself, curled up in the corner with his navy blue shorts crinkling a little above his knees. Axel nodded, and he was off to make his very first friend.

The little boy didn't notice him walk up, but he did look up from his lap when Axel took the seat across from him. He was very cute— something even Axel could see— his blue tinted bangs held away from his face with pins and too-big blue eyes watching the redhead wearily. Axel smiled, holding out his hand like the people on television did sometimes, "I'm Axel, and I wanna be your friend."

The boy looked at him for a moment, hesitantly shaking his hand. "Zexion."

"Thex—wion." Axel scrunched up his nose. Well, that was certainly not how he was supposed to say his name. Zexion just looked at him, tilting his head to the side.

"That's not my name."

Axel huffed, "It's too hard." Suddenly, he stood, intending on finding some toys, grabbing Zexion's hand and pulling him along with him. But, he must have messed up or moved too fast because Zexion didn't get up and now he was crying and— did he do that? Confused, he got on his knees, watching as Zexion cried and rubbed at the red mark on his shin. Axel's head tilted. That wasn't so bad. He got those all the time— from playing with Reno and running through the house—but it didn't matter because, before he could even say he was sorry, the pretty brunette woman had already taken him away and he didn't get to see Zexion for the rest of the day. But that was okay. He'd already decided.

That night, he told his mommy that he had met the love of his life and that his name was Zexion.

He couldn't understand why she laughed so hard.

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**A/N: Ah~ Children, gotta love 'em. Haha. Happy Axel/Zexion Day! **

**All signed reviews are responded to! **


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